The social media platform X has provoked significant outrage after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
